


Night Sky

by Joolz



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: April Showers Challenge, Gen, Vignette
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2002-04-28
Updated: 2002-04-28
Packaged: 2017-10-17 13:35:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 991
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/177374
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Joolz/pseuds/Joolz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Carter, the universe, and everything</p>
            </blockquote>





	Night Sky

They were settled in around the campfire after another not-exciting day on a boring planet. Daniel had played happily in some ruins all day and Carter had filled little sample bottles from sunrise to sunset. Jack was ready to kick back and let his mind drift. Maybe imagine himself in front of a TV, set to the sports channel, with a beer in one hand and someone warm and pliant in the other.

But no. As if a whole day of soil samples weren’t enough, Carter had to be rambling on about where to get more tomorrow. Time to change channels.

Jack interrupted, “So, Carter. There’s one thing I’ve never quite gotten clear on. You’re an astrophysicist, right? Black holes and quasars and event horizons and stuff like that. So what is it with you and soil samples, anyway? This isn’t exactly what you got your doctorate in. Wouldn’t you like, you know, someone else to do the dirt work?”

It was always a risk asking Carter a direct question, but he was in fact curious about this point. She looked at him quizzically, a bit distrusting, then asked, “Do you really want to know?”

“Yeah, Carter, enlighten us. In words of two syllables or less.”

She looked down, considering her response. When she lifted her head there was a glowy expression on her face.

“It has everything to do with astrophysics, sir. You’ve got theoretical astrophysics, that deals with understanding the physical nature of the universe. How it formed, what it’s made of, how different parts of it interact. Then there’s applied astrophysics, which is a lot like engineering, where you try to figure out ways to detect and measure the elements the universe is composed of, in order to inform theory.

“For an astrophysicist in the military the space program is as close as you’ll usually get to either one of those things. Satellites, telescopes, the occasional deep space probe if you’re lucky. All those things are vehicles for instrumentation to measure properties of distant stellar phenomenon. The information they can gather is necessarily diffuse. It, it’s coming from hundreds or billions of light years away. It’s hundreds or billions of light years old. And our instruments can only do so much.

“That was the state of astrophysics before the Stargate program. Think about it, sir.” Her face brightened with enthusiasm. “Every time we send a MALP through to a new planet, it takes readings. You’re familiar with the basic environmental data which tells us whether we can visit or not, but it also collects information about the local star…or stars…” She grinned with pleasure. “We get real time data up close and personal about the properties of stars from all over the galaxy, and how they interact at the atomic and gravimetric levels with other bodies and phenomena in that region. That’s great on its own, but we can also compare it with readings taken from Earth that give us an incredible timeframe to work with. You wouldn’t believe how the knowledge available to theoretical astrophysicists has grown in the last couple of years. If they were allowed to, it would take an army of scientists years to analyze all the data we’ve collected so far.”

A look of joyous amazement spread across her face as she continued. “And then there are the soil samples. Sir, that isn’t even remote data from a MALP. That’s the physical makeup, the elements, radiation patterns, geological history of distant planets, and I hold it right in my hand. I take bits of the universe home to Earth.” She looked close to tears. “No astrophysicist could ever have imagined an opportunity like this. It goes beyond, well, my wildest dreams. Yes, a lot of it is so that the government can find naquadah and other rare minerals, but we get to do ‘ground breaking’ research at the same time, even if it is still just ‘scratching the surface’. So no, I would never want someone else to collect the samples. I don’t have time to do the analysis myself, but I know what those little jars of soil mean to our understanding, as a race, of the origins, present and future of the universe.”

Teal’c was sitting beside Sam, gazing at her with a warm, affectionate smile. Next to Jack, Daniel was positively beaming, pleasure infusing his face as he responded to his friend’s elation. Sam was looking at the ground again, a thoughtful, inward expression returning to her features.

Daniel’s pleasure in and enthusiasm for his work was well known to all. The ancient buildings and writings were there for everyone to see, and he continued to gush about his artifacts long after they’d returned home. But this was the first time Jack had ever really understood that his 2IC felt the same kind of fulfilment from her work. She hardly ever talked about it. And he never asked. In fact, when she tried to share her work he always cut her off and shut her down. He’d reduced her to ‘Carter, just tell us if you can fix it.’

For the first time Jack realized that by doing that he had been repressing her spirit. He may not understand what she was talking about, but he owed it to her to acknowledge its importance, and support her initiative. Jack knew full well that there were limits to the techno-babble he could endure, but he resolved to try.

Looking up at the canopy of alien constellations spilled across the sky, his own universe expanded into a new space. He said with genuine sincerity for once, “Thanks, Carter, that was very interesting. So, you see that pink cloud stuff, and how it sort of mixes with the green cloud stuff over by that bright star? Why does it do that?”

The four friends leaned back against their packs and gazed up at the night sky. And Carter began to talk.

 

end


End file.
